Doubletime Sneakout
by TheFlyboy44
Summary: It's a hot night in the Pridelands, and Simba thinks it's a perfect night to go for a moonlit swim. But not without a certain special someone!


**This is a Lion King story based on two Lion King dreams I had in 2004.**

**I do not claim rights to anything in this story. **

**The Lion King and all associated characters are copyrighted to Walt Disney Pictures. **

**ENJOY!**

**Double-time Sneak-out**

Another glorious day had come to an end in the Pridelands. King Mufasa stood atop Pride Rock looking out over his kingdom. Most of the animals had already gone home, but the nocturnals were coming out and going off to do their business. Mufasa knew that they were just as important to the circle of life as those who did things during the day. Well, maybe not those blasted hyenas, but everyone else was fine. He was deep in thought, when Zazu flew up behind him. "Good evening sire," said Zazu, "Checking in with the evening report." "Let's have it then." said Mufasa. "Well," said Zazu, "The Hippos report that the bottom of the river has solidified in some places, which means there's minimal danger of sinking into the riverbed." "Excellent," said Mufasa, "The last thing we want is someone sinking and drowning in the mud." "I quite agree your majesty," said Zazu, "And on a somewhat related note, we've received word from the coast that the ship _S.S. Gearbucket_ has entered our rivers." "Good," said Mufasa, "Then she'll pass through the Pridelands tonight." He sighed and said, "Honestly Zazu, There's got to be a faster way to convey information around here." "Why yes," said Zazu, "But unfortunately, our budget can't cover a telegraph, let alone a radio. And besides, those pigeons need to make a living somehow." "Yes," said Mufasa, "Even those messenger pigeons are a credit to the kingdom." The two of them stood there for a little longer, before Mufasa said, "It's going to be hot tonight." "Yes it is," said Zazu, "I've opened the ventilation shafts to try and let the breeze in." "Thank you," said Mufasa, "I don't know where I'd be without you." "I only wish Simba felt the same way sire." Zazu lamented. "Zazu," Mufasa said jokingly, "You aren't still mad about Simba and Nala's zombie prank, are you?" Zazu grimaced as he remembered how the cubs had made a fool out of him by disguising themselves as zombies. He had chased them back to Pride Rock, and told Mufasa about it, only to be told that it was all in good fun. Mufasa had given the cubs a light scolding, but that was it. "Well," said Zazu, "I'll just try to be more on my guard next time." "That's the spirit." said Mufasa. With that, Zazu took off heading for his nest, and Mufasa walked down the path leading to the cave entrance.

All the lions and lionesses went to sleep just as the sun was going down. They slept in corners, or on the coldest part of the floor they could find. Sure enough, even though the sun went down, the temperature didn't. The hours passed, and somewhere around eleven P.M. Simba woke up. The moonlight happened to be streaming through the clouds in just a way that it was hitting his face. He gingerly got up, carefully tiptoed over Mufasa and Sarabi, and stood at the entrance. The moonlight was shining down on him. "Wow," said Simba quietly, "The moonlight makes it really hard to sleep, but it's just so beautiful." He looked up into the sky and saw that the clouds were parting. Then he saw the moon, and was amazed at just how big it really was. After staring up at the moon for a few minutes, Simba realized just how hot it was. "Hmmm…" he said to himself, "It's a perfect night to go for a moonlit swim." After thinking about it, he decided that was what he would do. Carefully checking to make sure that no one saw him, he tiptoed down the rocks to ground level. Once he was on the ground, he took off heading in the direction of the river.

Simba hadn't gone far when an idea hit him. He thought that it might be fun to invite Nala to go swimming with him. In a way, it would make up for the day that they had planned to spend alone, but had ended up with Zazu watching them. He only hoped that he could get her out without anyone seeing her. He walked the short distance to her cave, and when he came close he tried walking slowly on his pads to avoid making any noise. Soon he was so close, he could see her little brother Mheetu cuddling up with Sarafina. At first he couldn't see Nala, but then he turned to his right, and saw her sleeping at the far end. He knew that she was only doing this to try and keep cool; she loved her mother as much as Mheetu did. What Simba couldn't understand was how Mheetu could stand the heat while cuddling. Perhaps it was because he was still very young and afraid of sleeping without his mother. Whatever the case may have been, Simba now faced the challenge of waking Nala without stirring her family, and how he was going to do that, he didn't know. After analyzing his options, he decided to try the direct approach. He gently crept into the cave and stood over Nala. Then he leaned down close to her face, and gently began blowing on it. It took a moment or two, but Nala began to wake up. Finally her eyes opened and she looked up at who was standing over her. "Simba?" she whispered, "Yeah Nala," he said quietly, "It's me." "What's going on?" Nala asked sleepily, "It's the middle of the night." "I know," said Simba, "It's a perfect night to go for a moonlit swim; just you and me." "Are you sure?" asked Nala, "I mean… we could get in a lot of trouble for sneaking out at night." "Only if we get caught," said Simba, "And if we're quiet enough, we won't." Nala took a moment to think about it, then she finally smiled and said, "Alright Simba, I'll go swimming with you." "Great!" said Simba, "Let's go!" Nala got up and the two cubs quietly snuck out of the cave. Then they walked over to the path and took off running, heading for the river.

It was a bit of a run to the river, but Simba and Nala didn't mind, they were enjoying the idea of just running around at night. "So Simba," said Nala as they were casually strolling down the path, "What made you come up with this idea?" "Well," said Simba, "It was obviously the heat. I could barely sleep it was so hot." "I know." said Nala. "But," added Simba, "It was also the moonlight. It was just so beautiful that I thought it would be a waste not to spend some time seeing it." "I agree," said Nala, "I've never seen such a beautiful moon before. But there's one thing I don't understand." "What's that?" asked Simba. "Well," said Nala, "What made you stop and invite me?" Simba found himself unable to answer this question. He knew that Nala was his best friend, but deep down inside him, he really, really liked her. "Well…" he said, "I… I guess it would have been rude to exclude you from such a wonderful experience. I… wouldn't want you to miss out on it." Nala just stared at Simba; she knew that they were best friends, but she couldn't help but wonder sometimes if their friendship could become something more, something… greater. The cubs were right near the river now, and so Simba broke the awkwardness by saying, "Hey… Watch this!" With that, he took off running for the river. He ran straight up on a rock, jumped, and made a brave dive right into the water. Nala ran up onto the rock just in time to Simba's head break the surface. "That was great!" she said. "Thanks!" said Simba, shivering a bit, "C'mon in! The water's fine!" Nala took a few steps back, and then bounded towards the edge. "Yahoo!" she yelled as she jumped off the rock and somersaulted in mid-air before making a big splash. She soon resurfaced next to Simba, "Brrrr!" she said still smiling, "The water's really cold!" "Yeah!" said Simba, "Just what we need to cool down on a night like this!" "It feels great." Nala agreed, "Let's have some fun!" With that, the cubs began swimming and splashing each other. Unbeknownst to Simba and Nala, just a half-mile down river, the _S.S. Gearbucket_ was gently moving up the river under the cover of darkness. She was running at a quarter her top speed, so that her engines wouldn't disturb the Pridelanders. And just as well, she was having problems with her running lights. Thus, the crew could barely see what was directly in front of them. There was no way they would be able to see if there was someone down in the river. Like maybe… two young mischievous cubs. Yes, it certainly looked like Simba and Nala were about to get into another one of their situations; and only for the umpteenth time.

Simba and Nala were having such a great time with their moonlit swim. Simba quietly swam up behind Nala and when he was close enough, he playfully dunked her, being sure of course to be gentle with her. "Simba!" laughed Nala as she surfaced again. "What?" he asked, "I'm just getting you back for all the times you pin me!" "Yeah!" said Nala, "I guess I deserve it!" They both laughed, when suddenly, Nala said, "Simba… Do you hear that?" "Hear what?" asked Simba, "I don't hear anything." "It sounds like some sort of engine." said Nala. Simba listened a little harder, and sure enough, he could hear a strange, "_**Chug-Chug-Chug…**_" noise. The cubs turned around, and came face to face with the _S.S. Gearbucket_ bearing down on them! "AAAAAAAAHHHH!" screamed Nala; "WHOA!" cried Simba. The cubs quickly swam for the bank, but only managed to squeeze in between some rocks. They were scared and scrunched together, but at least they were out of the big steamer's path. "Whoa…" said Nala, "That was a close call." "Yeah," said Simba, "If I had known that thing was coming, I would have waited before diving in." "That would have been an excellent idea." said Nala, "Jeez, it's really cramped in here." "I know." said Simba. That was all he said, he didn't' want to let Nala in on the fact that he actually liked being this close to her. But little did he realize, Nala felt the same way about the situation. The _S.S. Gearbucket _had slowed down to about an eighth of her top speed to negotiate this difficult bend in the river. This meant Simba and Nala would be trapped in their hiding place for a bit. To make matters worse, the temperature of the water wouldn't help at all. Soon Nala was shivering a lot. Simba pulled her close to him to try and get a little of his body heat to her. It took a few minutes, but the _S.S. Gearbucket_ passed the rocks. As soon as her wake had died down, Simba said, "Well, looks like we can come out again." But to his shock, Nala was shivering badly, and tears were coming to her eyes. "Nala?" he asked, "Are you alright?" "I… I don't think so Simba." She said, almost crying, "I'm just so cold!" Simba pulled closer to her and said, "I'm sorry Nala, I didn't mean for this to happen." "No… It's okay…" she wept, "I… I had a good time anyway." "Are you sure?" asked Simba, "You don't sound happy to me." "But I am…" said Nala as she forced a smile. "I'm happy because I got to spend the night just with you." "Well… Okay," said Simba, "I'm glad you're happy." Nala was now making a noise, and it was hard for Simba to tell if she was laughing or crying. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he leaned in close to her. To Nala's complete surprise, Simba kissed her on her lips. They held the kiss for a moment before breaking, and just looked at each other confused. "Simba…" said Nala, "Did we just…" "I… I think we did." said Simba, "I think we just kissed each other." "Well," said Nala, "Than… Thank you Simba, you truly are a charming prince." Simba couldn't help but blush.

Soon, the cubs swam back to the other side of the river and climbed out. "That was fun," said Nala, "I'm really glad we came and did this." "Next time we probably shouldn't do this at night." said Simba. "I don't know," said Nala, "I think next time we just need to check for ships!" "Right!" laughed Simba. The cubs had just finished shaking off when Nala gave a small, "Ahh… Ahh… Ahh-CHOO!" "You alright?" asked Simba. "Yeah," said Nala, "I'm fine. Ahh... Ahh-Choo!" "I don't know," said Simba, "You could be catching a cold." "Uh… Maybe I am…" said Nala. "C'mon," said Simba, "I'll take you home." The cubs began walking back up the path towards Pride Rock. Nala had a little bit of trouble due to the fact that she was still shivering a lot. But Simba was wonderful; he let Nala lean on him the whole way back. When they got back to Nala's cave, Nala said, "Thanks Simba, I'll never forget tonight." "Neither will I," said Simba. Then he paused as though he didn't know what to do next. So he gestured to the cave and said "Um… Goodnight Milady." Nala giggled and said, "Thank you your majesty." as she curtseyed to him. With that, she walked into her cave and cuddled up next to her mother. Simba walked slowly away. But before going too far, he turned around and said, "Goodnight Nala… Sleep well." With that he turned and bounded off for home. Nala smiled as she watched him go; he meant so much to her. She knew she was going to have a bit of explaining to do in the morning, so she decided to sleep on it. She snuggled up against her mother's warm fur and fell asleep.

Simba got back to Pride Rock with plenty of time to spare. He gently tiptoed inside and lay down in the corner. "_Well, that was an eventful night._" He thought to himself, "_Boy am I gonna be sorry in the morning that I didn't get some sleep. Oh well, it was worth it._" With that, he closed his eyes and passed out from exhaustion. Little did he know, Mufasa had seen him come in and had guessed what he had been up to. But still, he had done those kinds of things a few times as a cub, so he couldn't help but chuckle as his son experienced the same kind of thing. "_That's my boy._" He said to himself. Then he dozed back off to sleep. As Simba slept, a beautiful dream crept into his mind.

_Simba awoke in a beautiful jungle lagoon with a waterfall and everything. "Wow!" he cried, "This place is great!" He ran up to the water, tested it, and found it to be pleasantly warm. "And the water's great too!" he said. "Is it?" asked a voice. Simba looked behind him to see Nala standing there. "Yeah!" he said, "Let's go!" He waited for Nala to catch him, and then the two cubs ran up to the top of the waterfall. Without even pausing, they ran to the edge and leapt off the rocks. "YAHOOOO!" yelled Simba; "ALRIGHT!" yelled Nala as they fell through the air and plunged into the lagoon. The cubs surfaced and laughed with each other. Then they just floated on their backs, and held each other's paw. They closed their eyes and blissfully drifted around in the lagoon, just enjoying the other's presence. Perhaps this was an omen of things to come. Simba certainly hoped so._

**THE END!**

**So what does everyone think? I would really like some feedback on this story as it's very close to my heart.**


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